************************************************
One of today's leading pianists, Yin Chengzong, will perform with vocalists Li Wenlin, Geng Qiaoyun and Yuan Huiqin in January.
Featuring Chinese Yangbanxi orchestral masterpiece The Red Lantern arranged by Yin and folk songs of northern Shenxi, together with piano suite The Red Detachment of Women, the concert will be at 8pm on Tuesday, January 16, 2007, at the Auditorium, Sha Tin Town Hall.
The Red Lantern was one of the only two piano repertoires allowed to be performed during the revolution campaign of modern China. The other one was Yellow River, which was also arranged by Yin.
Yin Chengzong gave his first recital at nine and entered the pre-college of the Shanghai Conservatory (later transferred to as the Central Conservatory in Beijing) at 12. He travelled to Russia in the 1960s to study with Tatiana Kravchenko, and graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory and Central Conservatory in Beijing.
Yin has won many awards, including the gold medal at the World Youth Peace and Friendship Festival in Vienna in 1959 and second prize in the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
Yin has performed under the baton of Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Kondrashin and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sir Malcolm Sargent and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also appeared in Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, and at Lincoln Centre. Yin is also formerly a professor and artist-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
One of four Chinese musicians listed in the "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" published in 1980, Yin is not only a virtuoso interpreter of Western masters, he is also a composer of highly renowned piano pieces. His piano arrangements and interpretations of traditional Beijing opera and other classic Chinese music, combined with his contribution to the Gold Record awarded Yellow River Concerto have made him a household name in China.
"The Red Lantern" vocal performance with piano accompaniment - Yin Chengzong in concert is presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
Tickets priced at $220, $160 and $100 are now available at URBTIX outlets, while senior citizens, people with disabilities, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients may have 50% off (limited quotas for CSSA recipients on a first-come, first-served basis). A 10% discount applies to Friends of LCSD performing venues.
For enquiries about the programmes, call 2268 7321 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/cp. Ticketing enquiries and reservations can be made on 2734 9009 and credit card telephone bookings on 2111 5999. Tickets can also be booked online at www.urbtix.hk.
Ends/Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Issued at HKT 12:06
NNNN